Business Commons^™

Marketing Measurement Revolution: The C-Oar-Se Method And Why It Must Replace Psychometrics, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – New measures in marketing are invariably created by using a psychometric approach based on Churchill’s “scale development” procedure. This paper aims to compare and contrast Churchill’s procedure with Rossiter’s content-validity approach to measurement, called C-OAR-SE.
Design/methodology approach – The comparison of the two procedures is by rational argument and forms the theoretical first half of the paper. In the applied second half of the paper, three recent articles from the Journal of Marketing (JM) that introduce new constructs and measures are criticized and corrected from the C-OAR-SE perspective.
Findings – The C-OAR-SE method differs from Churchill’s method by …

Accounting And Neoliberalism: A Critical Reading Of Iasb/Fasb's Conceptual Framework For Financial Reporting 2010, Ying Zhang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores the influence of neoliberal free market ideology on the accounting standard setting by using IASB/FASB’s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting 2010 as an example. By positioning the analysis in broader literature of neoliberalism and financialisation, this paper reveals the bias underlying the conceptual framework that promotes the interest of neoliberal financiers and its potential social impacts. This paper argues that the changes that take place in the joint project serve to strengthen the beliefs in the neoliberal markets and favours a very small group of users over the ‘public interest’ consideration of financial reporting. As unfolded through …

An Assessment Of M-Health In Developing Countries Using Task Technology Fit Model, Amina Tariq, Shahriar Akter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Health challenges present arguably the most significant barrier to sustainable global development. The introduction of ICT in healthcare, especially the application of mobile communications, has created the potential to transform healthcare delivery by making it more accessible, affordable and effective across the developing world. However, current research into the assessment of mHealth from the perspective of developing countries particularly with community Health workers (CHWs) as primary users continues to be limited. The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of mHealth in enhancing the performance of the health workers and its alignment with existing workflows to guide its …

Three Good Reasons Not To Use Factor-Cluster Segmentation, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation is very popular both in tourism industry and among tourism researchers. Tourism industry uses it to identify homogenous subsets of tourists and to select the most suitable of them to target over the medium and long term. Tourism researchers use it to gain a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of consumer behaviour among tourists. There are two basic forms of market segmentation: a priori (Mazanec, 2000) or commonsense segmentation (Dolnicar, 2004) and post-hoc (Myers and Tauber, 1977), a posteriori (Mazanec, 2000), or data-driven segmentation (Dolnicar, 2004). In commonsense segmentation the users determine in advance which tourist characteristic should …

Self-Congruity And Volunteering : A Multi-Organisation Comparison, Melanie Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

1. Purpose: To examine: (1) if individuals who prefer different volunteering organisations have different self-concepts; (2) if individuals perceive their preferred volunteering organisation as more similar to their self-concept than other volunteering organisations; and (3) if self-congruity theory correctly predicts consumer (volunteer) behaviour differences across organisations and organisational missions.
2. Design/methodology/approach: We collected data on people’s preferred volunteering organisation, their self-concept and their perceived image from eight volunteering organisations using an online self-completion survey. We then used chi-square tests and paired-sample t-tests to identify significant differences between groups.
3. Findings: Individuals who prefer different volunteering organisations differ significantly in their self-concept. For the …

Historical Approaches To Creativity And Innovation, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In this chapter, I will analyse historical approaches to creativity and innovation. Initially, this will take the form of a broad international comparative perspective and then, more specifically, I will address recent Australian historical experience. This will include a focussed look at sources of new technology in the interwar period. In the final section of the paper, I will address briefly the policy implications arising from the historical survey.

Key Drivers Of Airline Loyalty, Sara Dolnicar, Klaus Grabler, Bettina Grun, Anna Kulnig

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates drivers of airline loyalty. It contributes to the body of knowledge in the area by investigating loyalty for a number of a priori market segments identified by airline management and by using a method which accounts for the multi-step nature of the airline choice process. The study is based on responses from 687 passengers. Results indicate that, at aggregate level, frequent flyer membership, price, the status of being a national carrier and the reputation of the airline as perceived by friends are the variables which best discriminate between travellers loyal to the airline and those who are …

The Role Of The Government In Financial Sector Development, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the impact of two dimensions of the government, namely, size and quality, on two dimensions of the financial sector, size and efficiency, in a cross section of 71 economies. The study finds that increased quality of the government as measured by governance and legal origin positively influences both financial sector size and efficiency. The size of the government proxied by government expenditure and the government ownership of banks has a negative effect on financial sector efficiency, and a positive impact on financial sector size, particularly in the low income economies.

Political Connection And Managerial Entrenchment: Evidence From Ceo Turnovers In China, Jerry Cao, Xiaofei Pan, Meijun Qian, Gary G. Tian

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Firms seek political connection by hiring politicians and ex-bureaucrats as top executives in China, especially in privately controlled firms. One unintended consequence of establishing political connection is management entrenchment. Political connected CEOs have smaller equity holding than CEOs without political background. Political connection significantly lowers the CEO turnover probability and turnover-performance sensitivity. Firm performance improves after political connected CEOs are replaced, particularly if replaced by new ones not politically connected. Overall, our findings suggest that political connection in association with management entrenchment destroys shareholder value, harms firm performance, and exacerbates corporate governance in emerging economies.

Red Queen Takes White Knight: The Commercialisation Of Accounting Education In Australia, Edmund W. Watts, Carol J. Mcnair, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This paper investigates the consequences of the commercialisation of Australian universities. It also provides a theoretical framework which focuses this action. Design / methodology - The Red Queen scenario posits that organisations that are more active than their rivals (they run faster) improve their competitive positions and increase their performance. However, organisations that are more sluggish (they run slower) experience negative performance consequences. This paper examines this process using the new institutional theory against the backdrop of the quest for increased international student numbers, higher international ranking and international accreditation. Findings - Using data from the 2011 Excellence …

Investigating Chinese And Australian Student's Awareness And Interpretation Of Csr, And The Influence Of Studying 'Socially Innovative Commerce' Over Time, Zhengfeng Li, Alan A. Pomering, Gary I. Noble

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study compares Chinese students studying in Australia and Australian domestic students on awareness and interpretation of, and attitude and behavioural intention towards the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and the influence on both of studying within an environment termed "socially innovative commerce". While previous research has found that age, gender, and study major of students may influence perceptions of CSR, this rsearch found these variables are not as significant as cultural background. These findings are presented and discussed along with future research directions.

Reflections On Interpretive Supply Chain Research, Tillmann Boehme, Paul Childerhouse, Eric Deakins, Denis Towill

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A key purpose of this paper is to stimulate researchers into utilising a more balanced portfolio of research methods when generating supply chain theory. The supply chain/logistics literature overwhelmingly exhibits objectivist/positivist philosophical assumptions, indicating that this is what researchers believe constitutes valid discipline knowledge. In contrast, this paper demonstrates that an interpretive perspective is capable of yielding a comprehensive picture of the relationship between the supply chain and the ‘messy’ environment within which it is embedded (contingency theory). By reflecting on lessons learned through many years of practical researcher experience with such a methodology, this paper serves to motivate the …

Using Decision Tree In Business Collaborator, Chao Sun, Yu Zhang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - Business collaboration is important for small and medium sized enterprises. The traditional method of choosing business collaborator is largely based on individual's experience and subjective criteria. However, the failure rate of business collaboration is still high for less experienced small firms. The purpose of this research is to find a different solution for managers in choosing business collaborators.

Methodology - Decision Tree is an advanced technology, which is used in different business and industry areas. It is adopted in this study to help the managers choosing business partners. This study using the data collected from 339 firms in …

Trust In Business Collaboration, Yu Zhang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - Trust is vital for business collaboration. However, few empirical studies have assessed trust because it is hard to be measured and is influenced by too many factors. The purpose of this research is to find the factors that influence firm level trust in Australia and China.

Methodology - This paper used quantitative research method to examine the key determinants of trust in Australian and Chinese business collaborations. Qualitative face-to-face interviews are also conducted in Australia and China to examine the results and provide complimentary support for the quantitative research results.

Findings - Trust is influenced by different factors …

The Effect Of Corporate Governance, Corporate Financing Decision And Ownership Structure On Firm Performance: A Panel Data Approach From Kuwait Stock Exchange, Helen M. Hasan, Mohammad Al Mutairi

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of corporate governance, corporate financing decision, and ownership structure on firm performance. The study uses panel based regression approach; the analysis is based on a sample of 80 listed Kuwait Stock Exchange Market firms, over a period of 9 years, from 2000 to 2008. Findings suggest that there is no association between ownership structure (identity, types or mix) and firm performance, using both measures of firm performance, ROA and Tobin’s Q. This study also finds that government ownership is insignificantly positively related to ROA using pool data; the result for …

Do External Shocks Have A Permanent Or A Transitory Effect On Thailand's Tourism Industry?, Reetu Verma, Ali S. Saleh, Ranjith Ihalanayake

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Given the number and the frequency of external shocks encountered by Thailand in the last two decades, this study identifies the number and the location of the breaks and tests to determine whether the breaks have a transitory or a permanent effect on international tourist arrivals to Thailand for its top 10 source countries using both univariate and panel unit root tests with structural breaks. The findings suggest that break dates coincide with the Asian financial crisis, the September 11 attack, and the SARS and the bird flu outbreaks. The univariate unit root tests with structural breaks reject the null …

The Impact Of Corporate Financing Decision On Corporate Performance In The Absence Of Taxes: Panel Data From Kuwait Stock Market, Helen M. Hasan, Mohammad Al Mutairi, Elizabeth A. Risik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the relationship between financing decisions such as capital structure, capital budgeting techniques and dividend policy along with the firm’s attributes. We examined the impact of industrial sectors and financial performance using the panel data of 80 listed companies in Kuwait. The results of this study suggest that, contrary to the Trade-off Theory of capital structure, there is a negative association between the level of debt and financial performance. This can be attributed to the high cost of borrowing and the underdeveloped nature of the debt market in Kuwait. Given the unique tax environment in Kuwait, using debt …

Modeling Quality Dynamics In It Services Management, Dr. Shahriar Akter, John D'Ambra, Pradeep Ray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The increasing importance of information technology (IT) services in the global economy prompts IS researchers to focus on service quality dynamics to capture the critical interaction between human behavior and IT. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a user perceived IT service quality model for mHealth using a cross-disciplinary approach. The conceptual model is rooted in the traditional cognition (service quality) – affective (satisfaction)– conation (continuance intentions) chain but explicitly identifies three primary dimensions (i.e., system quality, interaction quality and outcome quality) and eight subdimensions (system reliability, system efficiency, system privacy, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, utilitarian benefits …

Viewing Systems As Services: The Role Of Service Quality, Shahriar Akter, Pradeep Ray, John D'Ambra

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The significant and sustained growth in services worldwide prompts IS researchers to give special attention to service and service concepts as core aspects of the IS field. This study proposes that ‘viewing systems as services’ is critical to extend the focus of technology-business alignment in service science research. The study evaluates the influence of mHealth service quality on satisfaction, perceived value and continuance intentions using an interdisciplinary approach. The conceptual model is rooted in the traditional cognition - affective– conation chain but explicitly identifies system quality, interaction quality and information quality as the core dimensions of mHealth service quality. The …

Are The Female Entrepreneurs Of Beauty Salons In India, Victims Of Bad Publicity?, Roshni Narendran

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is a preliminary study exploring the obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs running beauty salons in India. Newspapers and other media highlight the illegal activities that occur in the beauty industry, such as solicitation and the use of unhygienic products in salons, whereas they fail to report about the legitimate owners of beauty salons who are striving to run successful businesses. So far, there are hardly any studies that have highlighted the issue of how bad publicity impacts Indian female entrepreneurs' businesses. Research conducted for a PhD study revealed social castigation and misconceptions created in the minds of the …

Identification Of Serpina1 As Single Marker For Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Through Microarray Meta Analysis And Quantification Of Its Discriminatory Power In Independent Validation, Klemens Vierlinger, Markus H. Mansfeld, Oskar Koperek, Christa Nöhammer, Klaus Kaserer, Friedrich Leisch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Background Several DNA microarray based expression signatures for the different clinically relevant thyroid tumor entities have been described over the past few years. However, reproducibility of these signatures is generally low, mainly due to study biases, small sample sizes and the highly multivariate nature of microarrays. While there are new technologies available for a more accurate high throughput expression analysis, we show that there is still a lot of information to be gained from data deposited in public microarray databases. In this study we were aiming (1) to identify potential markers for papillary thyroid carcinomas through meta analysis of public …

The Social Cost Of Blackmail, Oleg Yerokhin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Despite the fact that blackmail constitutes a voluntary transaction between two parties, it is deemed to bea criminal offense in most legal systems. The traditional economic approach to this so-called "paradox of blackmail" emphasizes welfare loss generated by the costly rent-seeking activities of potential blackmailersas the primary justification for its criminalization. This argument, however, does not extend to cases inwhich potentially damaging information about the victim was acquired by the blackmailer at no cost. Italso does not seem to shed light on a related puzzle: why is it legal for a potential victim to bribe theother party with the purpose …

Customer Satisfaction Measurement For The State-Owned Banks In The Developing Countries - The Case Of Bangladesh, Muhammad Saifuddin Khondaker, Monir Zaman Mir

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Customer Satisfaction has become an imponant aspect of measuring performance. particularly for the banking and finance industry. As most banks and finance organizations offer Similar products and services. Improving customer satisfaction and loyalty is the most important factor in maintaining as well as increasing market share for these organizations. Customer satisfaction is a grossly neglected area for performance measurement in almost all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Bangladesh is no exception. Like most LDCs. Bangladesh is also com:ng under pressure from the IMF. World Bank. ADB. etc. to reform its inefficient financial sector. Anecdotal evidence suggests that state·owned commercial banks …

Trustworthiness In Mhealth Information Services: An Assessment Of A Hierarchical Model With Mediating And Moderating Effects Using Partial Least Squares (Pls), Shahriar Akter, John D'Ambra, Pradeep Ray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The aim of this research is to advance both the theoretical conceptualization and the empirical validation of trustworthiness in mHealth (mobile health) information services research. Conceptually, it extends this line of research by reframing trustworthiness as a hierarchical, reflective construct, incorporating ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability. Empirically, it confirms that partial least squares path modeling can be used to estimate the parameters of a hierarchical, reflective model with moderating and mediating effects in a nomological network. The model shows that trustworthiness is a second-order, reflective construct that has a significant direct and indirect impact on continuance intentions in the context …

Topicmodels: An R Package For Fitting Topic Models, Bettina Grun, Kurt Hornik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Topic models allow the probabilistic modeling of term frequency occurrences in documents. The fitted model can be used to estimate the similarity between documents as well as between a set of specified keywords using an additional layer of latent variables which are referred to as topics. The R package topicmodels provides basic infrastructure for fitting topic models based on data structures from the text mining package tm. The package includes interfaces to two algorithms for fitting topic models: the variational expectation-maximization algorithm provided by David M. Blei and co-authors and an algorithm using Gibbs sampling by Xuan-Hieu Phan and co-authors.

Trends In Emissions Across The States Of Australia 1998-99 To 2007-08: A Shift-Share Analysis, Kankesu Jayanthakumaran, Ying Liu

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper reviews structural changes in emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) in eight Australian states and territories over the period 1998 to 1999 to 2007 to 2008. A shift-share analysis decomposes the changes of an emission between these two periods into parts ( a national-share component, an industry-mix component and a state-shift component) in order to account for the ecological competitiveness of the states and territories. The results suggest that the changes in state emissions have been substantial, and tend to reflect national, industry and regional policy changes.

An Evaluation Of Pls Based Complex Models: The Roles Of Power Analysis, Predictive Relevance And Gof Index, Shahriar Akter, John D'Ambra, Pradeep Ray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is an important tool to estimate a network of causal relationships linking two or more complex concepts. The PLS approach to SEM, also known as component based SEM, is becoming more prominent for estimating large complex models due to its soft modeling assumptions. This ‘soft modeling’ refers to the greater flexibility of PLS technique in developing and validating the complex models. However, to establish rigor in such complex modeling, this study highlights the critical roles of power analysis, predictive relevance and GoF index. The findings of the study show that power analysis is essential to establish …

Tariffs, Subsidies, And Profits: A Re-Assessment Of Structural Change In Australia 1901–39, David Merrett, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

We re-interpret the drivers of structural change in Australia from Federation to World War II. Manufacturing increased its relative share of output and employment, the farm sector and mining contracted. Conventional wisdom contends these shifts largely resulted from government policy, particularly increases in trade barriers. We contend that the connection between tariffs and increased profitability is conceptually weak and not supported by extant evidence. We argue that exogenous shifts in consumer preferences, the adoption of new technologies, changing factor proportions, and greater specialisation in manufacturing and services were responsible for manufacturing increasing its share of the economy's resources and output.

What Affects Public Acceptance Of Recycled And Desalinated Water?, Sara Dolnicar, Anna Hurlimann, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper identifies factors that are associated with higher levels of public acceptance for recycled and desalinated water. For the first time, a wide range of hypothesized factors, both of socio-demographic and psychographic nature, are included simultaneously. The key results, based on a survey study of about 3000 respondents are that: (1) drivers of the stated likelihood of using desalinated water differ somewhat from drivers of the stated likelihood of using recycled water; (2) positive perceptions of, and knowledge about, the respective water source are key drivers for the stated likelihood of usage; and (3) awareness of water scarcity, as …

Does Water Context Influence Behaviour And Attitudes To Water Conservation?, M Gilbertson, A Hurlimann, S Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many rural and urban areas around the world are facing challenges to the supply of water. A key method of addressing water shortage is water conservation. The success of conservation measures depends on public support and behaviour change. While it is known that the public is generally supportive of water conservation measures, little is known about the dependence of water conservation attitudes and behaviour on geographical location and the water situation at specific locations. The present study investigates whether individual attitudes to water conservation, and reported participation in water conservation behaviours, differ between two Australian locations that vary significantly in …